Jamar Roberts’s In a Sentimental Mood will make its work premiere at AAADT season at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)
ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
New York City Center
131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 30 – December 24, $39-$169
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a rough coupla weeks. Thankfully, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to New York City Center this week just in time to give me just the break I need, something I look forward to every year.
AAADT’s 2022 fall/winter season at City Center runs November 30 to December 24, featuring fifteen works presented in various groupings, beginning with an opening night gala consisting of an excerpt from Mauro Bigonzetti’s Festa Barocca (with Constance Stamatiou and students from the Ailey School), a romantic duet from Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, and excerpts from Alvin Ailey’s classic Night Creature along with artistic director Robert Battle’s Unfold, with live vocals by soprano Brandie Sutton, before concluding with Ailey’s standard-bearer, Revelations.
If you haven’t been paying attention to former Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts’s growth as a choreographer, you’ve been missing a special progression. The world premiere of his In a Sentimental Mood, the exploration of a young couple’s love and desire, set to music by Duke Ellington and Rafiq Bhatia’s spin on a quartet of jazz standards, is sure to be a highlight at City Center. The other world premiere is Kyle Abraham’s Are You in Your Feelings?, a celebration of Black culture with songs by the Flamingos, Jazmine Sullivan, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and others. The troupe will present the company premieres of Paul Taylor’s 1964 short, motionless DUET and Tharp’s 1997 Roy’s Joys, a nine-part piece honoring trumpet legend Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge. There will also be a new production of Ailey and Mary Barnett’s 1986 Survivors, a tribute to Nelson and Winnie Mandela with music by drummer Max Roach and singer Abbey Lincoln, restaged by former AAADT associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya.
Fan favorite BUSK by Aszure Barton is part of AAADT presentation at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)
The repertory pieces offer a wide range of consistent delights from throughout the company’s sixty-four-year existence. “All Ailey A” encompasses Night Creature, Reflections in D, Pas de Duke, and The River, “All Ailey B” brings together Memoria, Survivors, and Revelations, “All Ailey C” comprises Blues Suite, Reflections in D, Cry, and Revelations, and “All Ailey D” boasts The River, Blues Suite, and Revelations.
Future of Jazz Orchestra will perform live December 16-18 to Night Creature, Reflections in D, For Four, and Pas de Duke. Two “All New” programs team up In a Sentimental Mood, DUET, Survivors, and Roy’s Joys or Roy’s Joys, Survivors, and Are You in Your Feelings?
I always make sure to see one of the “All New” evenings, a glorious way to say goodbye to one year and welcome the next one, filled with hope and promise and great dancing.